Mumbai Hostage Crisis: How Rohit Arya Held 19 Hostages Over a Payment Dispute with the Maharashtra Education Department

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On October 30, 2025, Mumbai witnessed one of its most talked-about hostage horrors in recent years. Thirty-eight-year-old Rohit Arya, a Mumbai filmmaker, orchestrated the entire hostage scenario at RA Studio, Powai, central Mumbai, on the pretext of casting people for a web series.

What followed was a hostage situation nothing short of a nightmare. Arya held 19 people hostage, out of which 17 were children who had gathered at the studio for an acting gig. The situation was resolved after three hours when police commandos shot Arya, who later succumbed to his wounds.

It all began when Powai Police Station received a “distress” call at around 1:30 p.m., signalling a hostage situation at RA Studio in Mahavir Classic. Arya had rented the studio days before the incident under the pretext of taking auditions of children between the ages of 10 and 15 years.

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Suspicions emerged when parents started panicking as the children did not return for lunch at 1 p.m. According to reports, neighbours noticed children crying for help, which raised the alarm.

When police reached the spot to negotiate with the accused, who was inside the studio with barricades surrounding him, he reportedly did not cooperate. When approached for a negotiation deal, Arya threatened the police that he would set the studio ablaze, where he was holding 19 hostages.

Arya took this drastic step with a clear motive in his mind, which was not aligned with taking ransom money from the families of the hostages. He released a video recording of his statement during the negotiations. He said,

He further disclosed in his video statement that instead of killing himself, he had taken these hostages to get answers from some people.

What was the motive of Rohit Arya?

The hostage turmoil quickly escalated when the Mumbai hostage crisis took a political turn. In the released video statement, Rohit Arya contended that the Education Department of Maharashtra owed him Rs 2 crore.

Arya produced short films and other campaigns for cleanliness under the Majhi Shala, Sundar Shala initiative of the Maharashtra government. The cleanliness drive was led by Arya’s company named Apsara Media Entertainment Network.

As per reports, Arya had previously worked on several projects of the state government. He claimed that he had been repeatedly promised that he would be getting his due payment. However, the delay certainly pushed him toward taking a drastic step, unfolding the Mumbai hostage crisis.

Hours later, when Arya was killed in a rescue operation conducted by the police, the Education Department confirmed his involvement in the state project. It was discovered that the Mumbai filmmaker and his entertainment company had been selected in 2022 and 2023 for a sanitation project titled ‘Let’s Change!’.

The initiative involved appointing nearly 59 lakh students as ‘cleanliness monitors.’ During the second phase of the project (2023–24), which was carried out under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Shala Sundar Shala program, the government allocated around Rs 20.63 crore for the project, including Rs 2 crore for the cleanliness monitors.

The scheme was halted abruptly after the Education Department claimed that the project was incomplete and that there were issues like inflated costs for advertising, technical support, and screening of his Let’s Change documentary. He reportedly started the concept of ‘Swachhta Monitors’ and was allegedly cut off from the Majhi Shala Sundar Shala program, with no credit given to him.

Senior Inspector Jeevan Sonawane of Powai Police claimed that Arya was not in his right mind. He also stated that Arya had presented his demand to speak with former Maharashtra Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar to talk about the troubles he had with the department in the past.

During the rescue operation, he allegedly attempted to hurt one of the hostages, which prompted Assistant Sub-Inspector Amol Waghmare to shoot Arya on the spot. He later succumbed to his bullet injury.

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